The present invention relates to fishing lures and especially to a fishing lure having a skirt which can be changed while the lure is attached to a fishing line.
Many lures, particularly those that are used by commercial and recreational trollers, are constructed so that they can be slidably mounted on a leader which has a hook at one end and which is connected at the other end to a fishing line. Snaps and swivels are generally used to connect the hook to the leader. The swivels serve as stops to prevent the lures from sliding off the leaders and to prevent the leaders from being twisted. Drag applied to the hook by a hooked fish therefore is transferred directly from the hook to the line so that the lure does not take the weight of the fish. Due to changes in fishing conditions, it is usually desirable to change the lures in order to provide for a different type or color of skirt and, if the skirt becomes worn or frayed, it is also desirable to provide a new skirt.
In order to change the skirt on a prior art lure, it has generally been necessary to cut the leader just above the hook so that the lure can be removed and replaced with another lure of a different color or shape and the hook then resecured on the leader. This takes considerable time and shortens the leader so that the leader has to be replaced frequently.
The present invention allows the changing of one or two skirts on a lure connected to a leader of this type without cutting the leader or the fishing line and replacing the lure. The changing of the skirt can be accomplished rapidly to obviate lost time when on a fishing trip. It has been suggested in the prior art to have fishing lures with changeable skirts secured to the body of the fishing lure. Generally, these prior art changeable skirt lures merely change the skirt which is attached directly to the head of the lure and does not have the fishing leader passing through the lure to connect to the hook. It has also however been suggested to change the skirts or other components of fishing lures of the type having the leader passing directly through and connecting to the hook.
Prior art fishing lures which have changeable skirts can be seen in the West U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,067, for a fishing lure assembly employing a body and one or more replaceable skirts secured to the body by a threaded connection therebetween and in the Scott U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,889 for a fishing lure which releasably clamps a skirt member to the body member so that the skirt member can be removed and replaced without disconnecting the body member from the fishing line. The Pokras U.S. Pat. No. 2,625,767 is for a fishing lure in which the streamers are attached with a resilient sleeve for replacement. This patent allows for the replacement of the skirt without removing the hook or cutting off a portion of the leader by utilizing a head that splits into two parts. The Pate U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,607 is for a segmental fishing lure and method which permits replacement of the shell and skirt assemblies without disturbing the leader. The Ortiz U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,927 is for a fishing lure with interchangeable skirt. The Pate U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,016 is for a two-piece fishing lure while the Rodrigues U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,531 is for a fishing lure having replaceable, decorative and fish attracting skirts to provide a wide selection of lures with a minimum of parts. The Sorace U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,768 is for a fishing lure having a head and tail wherein the tail may be changed without affecting the other portions of the lure.
In contrast to these prior art fishing lures, the present fishing lure allows for the rapid change of the skirt of the fishing lure without removing the hook from the leader or without removing the fishing lure from the leader. It also allows for changing two skirts on the same lure, one mounted inside the other, which are both changeable while the lure is mounted to a leader. It also provides for a fishing lure having a changeable skirt which has a noise making head for generating noise by the flow of water through the head of the lure.
A fishing lure apparatus having a changeable skirt has a head having a bore therethrough for passage of a fishing line in a chamber formed therein. An attaching member is attached to the rear of the head. A lure skirt has a slotted skirt sleeve at one end thereof with a plurality of stringers extending therefrom which attaches to a slotted skirt support ring using a slotted clamp. A locking member having a bore therethrough slides on the fishing line and attaches to the head attaching member through the slotted skirt-sleeve, slotted skirt supporting ring, and slotted clamp for attaching the skirt to the fishing lure. By loosening the locking member, the skirt attached to the skirt supporting ring with the slotted clamp can be slid off the leader and removed from the lure head. The skirt and other members are removed by sliding the fishing line through the slot in the skirt sleeve and then sliding a replacement skirt attached to a skirt supporting ring with a slotted clamp over the fishing line and reattaching the locking member to the attaching member on the head of the lure. The lure also provides for a second slotted sleeve skirt ring and clamp for removably attaching a second skirt to the fishing lure. The method provides for selecting the fishing lure and changing the skirt thereon while the lure is attached to the fishing line.